Smoking pipe or similar article



Patented Jan. 19, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEK ander S. Zimmerman, Pelham Manor, and

Samuel Frey, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignors to Bakelite Corporation, New York, N. Y., a. corporation of Delaware Application December 1, 1934, Serial No. 755,524

9 Claims. (Cl. 131-12) This invention relates to a smokers article, for instance a smoking pipe or similar article and the general object of the invention is such an article having a relatively thick layer of resin or similar impervious material around the bowl to improve the pipe or other article as well as its appearance and to lower the manufacturing costs of pipes as well as to improve their method of manufacture.

The usual process of manufacturing pipes is a rather expensive procedure both because of the labor costs and the properties of wood which must be used. In the manufacture of the usual high grade pipes having a wooden bowl, the

woods used are more or less limited to perfect pieces of non-porous woods, for instance Italian briar. If there are knot holes or highly porous spots, they must be plugged and even when this work is done the pipe is not high grade. There 90 are sometimes cracks in the wood which make the wood highly porous if they do not render the wood entirely unt for use. In making the pipes, the wood must ilrst be inspected and porous places plugged, which is a hand operation.

g5 Thereafter the bowl must be finished to its proper shape by a series of hand operations and a great `deal of time spent in sanding and polishing the wood, varnishing, re-sanding, re-polishing, etc.

until a surfacefmish is obtained which will withso stand the heat to which the bowl is subjected when in use. Pipes with special shapes, for instance with projections to make them stand upright, re-

quire extra labor.

According to our invention, a high grade pipe 35 may be produced with much less labor and from pieces of wood which have heretofore been considered imperfect as well as from woods which have not heretofore been used due to their porosity or other qualities. Pieces of wood which 4o have knots, curls or eyes are considered more beautiful than the usual pieces of wood. However, such pieces of wood are not satisfactory 4for high grade pipes because the knots, curls or eyes are, or quickly become, porous when the 45 pipe is in use and the pipe burns through at these places. Moreover, porous woods for instance beech, palmetto and manzanita are desirable for pipes because they more readily absorb the combustion products of the-tobacco but the difficulty 50 heretofore has been that they burn through rather quickly. In our pipe, the bowl is rendered nonporous from the outside so that oxygen cannot enter to assist in combustion of the wood but the inside of the pipe bowl may be left porous in or- 55 der to provide an absorptive bowl with improved smoking qualities and one to which the cake'l readily adheres thus preventing the pipe from burning during normal use. Moreover, the coating which we propose to use is preferably incombustible and non-softening under the temperatures and conditions of use but is soft and somewhat fiuid when applied to the pipe so that shakes, cracks or imperfections in the wood are cemented together and sealed. The outer layer which we propose to use on the pipe not only has the distinct mechanical ,advantages above set forth but may be used to enhance the beautiful appearance of the pipe as well as produce color effects heretofore unobtainable on pipes with wood or similar bowls having the most desirable smoking qualities. The covering may be colorless and transparent thereby bringing out the natural grain, knots, curls or eyes in the wood. The covering may also be colored to produce deeper and richer tones than the wood naturally pos.- sesses or the covering may be colored or mottled in such a way as to produce novel appearances unnatural to Wood although the smoking qualities of the wood may be retained.

Our process also lowers the cost of producin a finished pipe of pleasing appearance, as much of the hand labor heretofore necessary in the production of the pipe is eliminated. In our process, the wood blank is cut to the desired size and shape and quick smoothing may be effected but is not necessary. If desired, for the reasons later described, a suitable varnish or lacquer coat with or without color, may also be applied but need not be finished as'the appearance of the pipe depends upon its casing and not primarily upon the varnish or lacquer coating. 1- By an operation which is mostly mechanical, the pipe is then encased with the casing heretofore described and, with a minimum amount of final finishing for appearance, the pipe bowl is ready for use.

These and other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear from the appended claims and the following description together with the accompanying drawing which, however, must be taken merely as illustrating an operative embodiment of the invention without limiting it to the specific forms described.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a section through a mold and pipe illustrating a method of practicing the invention.

Figure 2 is a section through a pipe. The invention will be described in connection with a pipe having a wooden bowl 2 and casing 4 of transparent resin although it will be understood thatl other bowl materials may be used as well as other casing materials. In making the pipe a wood block'is formed, usually on a lathe or other machine, to the desired shape which usually includes that part of the stem which is next to and integral with the bowl. The opening 6 in the bowl is usually cut out or partly cut, but the opening 8 through the stem Illis preferably not cut out to prevent resin from lling the stem, although it may be drilled at this time and plugged if more convenient. As the final shape and finish of the pipe does not depend exclusively upon the shape and finish of the wood parts, the bowl and associated stem may be given a. shape which is most suitable to the particular block being cut, for instance', a round bowl and stem may be formed although the final shape of the pipe may be hexagonal or octagonal and the stem may be square. The partially finished wood bowl and y stem may be given `a quick sandpapering to smooth off rough surfaces and a suitable varnish or lacquer coat may be applied if desired. If the opening in the stem has been drilled itis preferably plugged with an easily removable plugging material i2, for instance, clay, soft metal, etc.

'Ihe pipe is then placed in a mold I4 so formed that resin or other encasing material may cover the wood parts with a casing of the thickness desired and when the finished article is removed from the mold, the exterior surface of the casing material will have the desired shape, that is, either round, hexagonal, or other contour. The mold preferably has a tapered upstanding bottom I6 over which the bowl of the pipe may be placed with such a force fit as to prevent the casing material from entering the bowl and also to hold the bowl down to prevent it floating in the resin. In this way, the interior of the bowl is not affected by the casing material and such smoking qualities as are normally characteristic of the Wood or which may be imparted to it by other treatments, may be preserved. If the bowl is not cut out, the protuberance I6 may be in the form of a point on which the shaped block is impaled to prevent it from rising, both bowl and stem being later drilled.

The casing 4 may either be cast around the wood bowl or may be molded around it under heat and pressure. It is preferred to cast the resin around the pipe. In the casting process, the mold I4 may be of rather soft metal and the bowl of the pipe may easily be forced over the protuberance i6 on the bottom of the mold to give a tight fit. Having assembled the pipe and mold, fluid casting resin may be poured into the mold whereby the casing of the pipe is formed as the resin hardens. The fluid resin lls any knot holes or highly porous places in the Wood and provides the pipe with a continuous impervious covering. The mold is preferably spaced somewhat beyond the end of the stem as at I8 in order to providek an ornamental band 20 between the wood stern I0 and the bit or mouth piece 22 with which the pipe will eventually be tted. If desired, the bit or mouth piece may be produced from the same resinous material as the casing, the mold being formed to produce these integral associations. In this case we may drill the wood stem to receive a formed smoke tube 24 of suitable metal which projects beyond the end of the wood stem and the bit may thus be molded directly on the pipe at the time the `pipe is encased. A washer 26 of treated paper, metal, etc. or a lm of parting material, for instance stearic acid to which the resin will not adhere may be used so that the bit may y later be separated from the pipe for cleaning, the

washer remaining permanently on the pipe or not, as desired. A film of' the parting material should also be used at the ornamental band where Ehio) resin surrounds the enlarged end of the smoke In the preferred casting operation, the assembled pipe and mold are placed in a heated oven under vacuum. The air and moisture in the wood expand with the heat and are withdrawn by the vacuum so that when the resin is cast around the bowl, there are no bubbles. The pipes are preferably heated to a temperature higher than any subsequent temperatureused in the process in order that the vapors may be expanded to their greatest extent and withdrawn from the wood before the casing is applied. An opening 28 through the mold permits the vapors to be withdrawn from the interior of the bowl and the vacuum seats the bowl more firmly on the protuberance. In order to apply the casing, the pipe vand mold may be withdrawn from the oven and the mold lled with fluid resin or the resin may be poured into the mold automatically, without opening the oven, from a receptacle Within the oven and containing the resin. Also, resin which is solid when cold but becomes fluid when heated may be laid over the pipe in the upper part of the mold so that after the mold, pipe and resin are thoroughly heated and the air withdrawn, the resin melts and flows around the pipe. In the case where the assembled mold and pipe are withdrawn from the oven to apply the resin, solid resin may be applied instead of liquid resin so that the assembly may be re-inserted in the oven and the vacuum re-applied to remove suchl air as may be caught on the surface of the wood when the oven is opened, after which the resin will melt and flow around the pipe. After the resin has covered the pipe in any of the above cases, air pressure may be built up within the oven to assist in forcing the fluid resin into any openings or porous places in the Wood. In the case where the pipes have been given a varnish coating, such varnish preferably being a solution of the casing resin, there is less tendency for the air to come out of the surface of the wood particularly if the varnish is baked to harden it on the pipe under such conditions that the air can escape from the bowl, for instance through the opening in the mold, and less precautions need be taken to prevent the formation of bubbles at the exterior surface of the wood. Depending upon the type of resin which is used for the casing, the resin in the assembly of pipe and mold may be permitted to harden either by standing at room temperature or further heating, either in the airtight chamber or in another chamber at atmospheric pressure. For the hardening operation, the airtight chamber may be filled with vapor under pressure above that of atmospheric to compress any bubbles which may have formed.

The covering may also be molded around the pipe under heat and pressure. In this case the mold may be of steel or'other material which will withstand the stress of the applied pressure.

The resin may be filled in around the pipe either ina liquid or solid condition and a force or plunger applied to the opening in the mold. The mold may also be filled from an extrusion press. The pressure prevents air bubbles from escaping from the wood although the pipe and mold may, if desired, first be submitted to heat with or without vacuum to eliminatel most of the air.

asv

aoeasee Any of the molds may be single or plural cavity, as desred.-

As previously stated, the resin may be either white or colored, transparent, translucent, or opaque or may contain metal or other akes to produce the desired visual eect. Colorless transparent resins may have the visual eect of a clear varnish, bringing out the natural grain or curl of the wood Whilecolored transparent resins may be used to enhance the tone of the wood while permitting its characteristic grain to be seen. Opaque, mottled, fiaked or variously colored resins may be used to produce novelty effects but in all cases the pipe thus produced has the non-porous and non-burning qualities of a high grade pipe while the smoking qualities of l different characteristics and gives the pipe different characteristics than can be applied by merely varnish coatings. The casing is relatively a great deal thicker than is normally produced by varnish coats. It may be for instance from 25/1000 to A of an inch in thickness. Thicker casings may however be used particularly where gures, etc. are to be molded or engraved into the casing. In the preferred form of the invention the characteristics of the resin are such that while it is uid enough to penetrate into and` ll all of theshakes, cracks and open places in the wood and somewhat to enter the external layer of pores in order to get a firm grip on the wood, still the resin does not impregnate the wood, that is, it is not soaked up by the wood, and thus the qualities of the wood which render it desirable for use in smoking pipes is not impaired.

` The surface of the pipe is'hard and the finish vis permanent. The predominant external shape is determined by the mold rather than the wood. Furthermore the pipe bowl and associated stem may be considered as substantially finished when removedI :from the mold, except that in some instances it may be desirableto trim away the surplus resin at the top of the mold to produce a rounded bottom on the pipe. Where a dat bottom is desired the trimming may be unnecessary. No further operationshowever, are needed although extra polishingv and working, forinstance engraving for inlaid initials or gures and other operations may be added at the option ot the manufacturer. It.

desired, the initials, coats of arms, figures, etc. or theindentures therefor may be molded di rectly into the casing.

Although the' previous description has dealt speciically with asmoking pipe it is obvious that the invention may be applied and include other smoking articles, as for example those used in substantially the same manner as the article illustrated in Figs. l and 2. We do not, therefore, limit ourselves to the form of device illustrated since it would be obvious to one conversant with this art that these articles as for example, cigar and cigarette holders could be made in accordance with the disclosure in this application without the further exercise of invention. It is therefore recognized that these and various other modicationsand applications may be made and it is to be `understood accordingly that the invention is to be construed as broadly as the claims taken in conjunction with the prior art, may allow.

We'claim:

1. A smoking article comprising a wooden receptacle element for tobacco and a stem element and a covering of substantially thick resin molded on at least one of said elements.

2. A smoking article comprising a tobacco receptacle of a porous material and a covering of substantially thick resin moldedthereon.

3. A smoking article comprising a receptacle for tobacco and a covering of substantially thick synthetic resin molded thereon.

4. A smoking article comprising a receptacle element for tobacco and a stem element, at least one of said elements having a substantially thick covering of resin in molded form integrally united therewith.

5. A smoking article comprising a shaped receptacle element for tobacco and a stem element having a communicating passage to the receptacle element, at least one of said elements having a substantially thick covering of resin integrally united thereto and of a shape dierent from the shape of the element. said covering of resin being in molded form.

6. A smoking article comprising a receptacle for tobacco having a covering of heat hardened molded resin integrally united thereto.

7. A smoking article comprising a tobacco receptacle. and a covering of chemically hardened and integrally united molded resin.

8. A smoking article having a receptacle element for tobacco and a stem element at least one of said elements being of absorbent material and a covering of molded resin material integrally united with the absorbent material of said element.

9. A smoking article comprising a receptacle and a stem, said stem being formed of wood and having a covering of molded resinb integrally united therewith. FINLEY F. ELLINGWOOD.

ALEXANDER S. ZIMMERMAN. SAMUEL FREY. 

